Carl J. Sundevall established an “_Antilope lævipes_” basing it
primarily on the figures of Geoffrey St.-Hilaire and Fr. Cuvier in
the ‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères,’ of which we have already
spoken. It is obvious, therefore, that Sundevall’s term “_lævipes_”
is an absolute synonym of “_rufifrons_,” though he gives as his
principal example a specimen from Sennaar in the Stockholm Museum.
But, nevertheless, there would appear to be a closely allied species
living in East Africa, which Heuglin, in his first work (‘Antilopen und
Büffel’), referred to _Antilope leptoceros_, but which he subsequently
in 1877 (‘Reise in Nordost-Afrika’) treated of under Sundevall’s name
“_Antilope lævipes_.” Heuglin states that this Gazelle, of which the
native name is “Abu-el-Harabat,” is found in Nubia, Kordofan, Sennaar,
and Taka, as also near Suakin and on the plains of the Beni Amer,
ascending to a height of about 1500 feet above the sea-level. Heuglin
specially alludes to the want of knee-tufts in his _Antilope lævipes_,
which is the case also in _Gazella rufifrons_. What this East-African
Antelope of Sundevall and Heuglin may be we are quite unable to decide,
not having been able to examine East-African specimens. It is possible,
however, that it may be _Gazella rufina_, which we shall presently
speak of.
Of the examples of this Gazelle formerly in the Knowsley Menagerie we
have already written. The Zoological Society of London have also, on
several occasions, received living examples of this species from the
West Coast of Africa. The first of these recorded of late years was
purchased in August 1865, and the second, a female, in 1869. In June
1895 a female _Gazella rufifrons_ was placed under the Society’s care
by the Hon. W. Rothschild, F.Z.S., and is still living in the Gardens.
In May of last year a fine living pair of this species were received
by the Zoological Society from a London dealer and subsequently
purchased. It is from this pair that the accompanying figures of both
sexes of this beautiful Gazelle (Plate LXVII.) have been prepared by
Mr. Smit. These animals are still living in the Society’s Gardens.
They stand about 24 inches in height at the shoulder, the male being
slightly the taller of the two. Both male and female have a slight
blackish nose-spot, as shown in our figures. The knee-brushes are quite
imperceptible in these three specimens, and the knees are perfectly
smooth.
_May,_ 1898.
98. THE RUFOUS GAZELLE.
GAZELLA RUFINA, THOS.
_Gazella rufina_, =Thos.= P. Z. S. 1894, p. 467 (fig., skull).
_Antilope lævipes_, =Sund.= K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 266
(1847), form α, ex Sennaar; =id.= Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch.
Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 262; Reprint, p. 82 (1848); =Heuglin=, Ant.
u. Büff. N.O.-Afr. (N. Act. Leop. xxx. pt. 2) p. 6; =id.= Reise
N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 100 (1877).
_Antilope leptoceros_, =Heugl.= Ant. u. Büff. p. 7 (err.).
Closely similar in all respects to _G. rufifrons_, but decidedly
larger, the colour throughout particularly rich and brilliant. Light
facial streaks not white but sandy, and little different to the general
colour of the cheeks. In the single specimen known (a tanned skin), the
hairs along the centre of the back and on the sides of the rump are
peculiarly waved, but how far this may be due to the preparation of the
skin we are unable to say. Knee-brushes dull rufous.
Skull conspicuously larger and heavier than that of _G. rufifrons_.
Anteorbital fossæ larger and deeper. Nasal opening shorter and broader
in proportion to the general size, and the upper line of the premaxillæ
more curved. Basal length of the type, an old male, (circa) 8·05
inches, greatest breadth 3·86, muzzle to orbit 4·9.
Horns of male short and heavy, their curvature and proportional length
about as in _G. rufifrons_; those of the type are 11·6 inches in length
on their anterior curve.
_Hab._ Interior of Algeria (?).
After his return from Algeria in 1894, Sir Edmund Loder, as we have
already stated, placed the whole of his series of specimens of Gazelles
from that country in Thomas’s hands for examination. Besides examples
of the two previously known Algerian species--_Gazella dorcas_ and _G.
cuvieri_--Thomas found that two other species, hitherto apparently
unrecognized, were represented in the collection. Of one of these,
which Thomas named _G. loderi_, we have treated under the head of _G.
leptoceros_. Of the other, to which we now propose to refer, only a
single specimen, consisting of a skin and a skull, was in the series.
This, however, was of so entirely a different character from the three
others above-mentioned that Thomas found it necessary to refer it to a
new species, which he proposed to call _G. rufina_, from its generally
bright, rich rufous colour. The specimen not having been obtained in
the field, but having been purchased at a shop in Algiers (in the
spring of 1877), cannot have any certain locality assigned to it; but
in all probability it was brought from somewhere in the interior, as
it is hardly likely that such an object would have been imported into
Algiers from a distant country.
[Illustration: Fig. 73.
Skull of Rufous Gazelle.
(P. Z. S. 1894, p. 468.)]
There can be no doubt that, as stated above, _Gazella rufina_ is most
nearly allied to _G. rufifrons_ of Senegal, from which, however, we
have already stated its points of difference. Sir Edmund Loder has
had a water-colour drawing of the typical specimen prepared by Smit,
which has much assisted us in our study of it. It is obviously a larger
and more richly coloured animal than _G. rufifrons_, and its skull,
of which, by the kindness of the Zoological Society, we are enabled
to give the figure that originally appeared in their ‘Proceedings’
(fig. 73, p. 168), is remarkable for its stout and heavy build and
short nasal opening. The only conjecture we can make respecting this
somewhat problematical species is that it may possibly be the same as
_Gazella lævipes_ of Sundevall and Heuglin from North-east Africa, of
which we have spoken in our article on _Gazella rufifrons_. It may
be remarked that Sundevall, in his account of _Antilope lævipes_ (K.
Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1845), has noted the existence, in the Paris Museum,
of specimens from Algeria of a Gazelle which he considers identical
with his species, form α (from Sennaar), and which he separates from
form β (from Senegal) on account of the want of the blackish nose-spot.
But even if such shall turn out eventually to be the case, the present
species will still retain the name “_rufina_,”--“_lævipes_,” as we have
already pointed out, being correctly treated of as a synonym of _G.
rufifrons_.
Sir Edmund Loder has most liberally presented the typical specimen of
_Gazella rufina_ to the British Museum.
_May,_ 1898.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXVIII
_J. Smit lith._ _Hanhart imp._
Thomson’s Gazelle.
GAZELLA THOMSONI.
_Published by R. H. Porter._]
99. THOMSON’S GAZELLE.
GAZELLA THOMSONI, GÜNTH.
[PLATE LXVIII.]
_Gazella thomsoni_, =Günth.= Ann. Mag. N. H. (5) xiv. p. 427
(1884) (fig., horns); =Thomson=, Masai-land, p. 536 (1885)
(fig., horns); =Hunter= in Willoughby, E. Africa, p. 289 (1889);
=Ward=, Horn Meas. (1) p. 133 (1892), (2) p. 171 (1896); =True=,
P. U.S. Nat. Mus. xv. p. 473, pl. lxxvii. (1892) (Taveta);
=Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, pp. 236, 239 (1893) (fig., horns);
=Lugard=, E. Africa, i. p. 534 (1893); =Jackson=, in Badm. Big
Game Shooting, i. pp. 285 & 298 (1894); =Scott Elliot=, P. Z.
S. 1895, p. 340; =Matsch.= Säug. Deutsch-O.-Afr. p. 130 (1895);
=Rhoads=, P. Ac. Philad. 1896, p. 519; =Jackson=, P. Z. S. 1897,
p. 434.
Height at shoulders about 25 inches. General colour deep sandy rufous,
all the markings well developed and sharply defined. Central facial
band deeper rufous, a black patch present on the top of the muzzle.
Light facial streaks pure white, extending quite to the muzzle and
surrounding the eye; darker cheek-streaks blackish. Light lateral band
present, though not very much paler than the back. Dark lateral band
deep black, greatly developed, very broad, sharply defined above and
below, extending on to the outer side of the elbow; no sandy streak
between it and the white of the belly. Pygal band small, blackish.
Ears rather short. Tail sandy at its base above, the remainder black.
Knee-brushes present, sandy or whitish.
Skull with short, broad, and quadrangular nasals, nearly as broad as
long; premaxillæ straight, scarcely concave above, broadly articulating
with nasals. Basal length of skull of a male 7·7 inches, greatest
breadth 3·6, muzzle to orbit 4·25.
Horns rather like those of _G. bennetti_ on a large scale, little
divergent, sometimes even quite parallel, evenly but very slightly
curved backwards for seven-eighths of their length, their tips gently
recurved upwards and forwards. In length, over the front curve, they
attain to about 14 or 15 inches, the record being 15½.
_Female._ Similar to the male, but with the horns rudimentary, much
smaller than in other African Gazelles; only from 3 to 6 inches in
length, of about the thickness of a cedar pencil, smooth and unridged,
and in direction crooked and irregular.
_Hab._ Interior of British and German East Africa, from
Lake Rudolph south to Irangi.
[Illustration: Fig. 74.
Horns of Thomson’s Gazelle, ♂.
(Ann. Mag. N. H. (5) xiv. p. 427.)]
The name of Joseph Thomson, the African traveller, will always rank
among the foremost of those who in the second half of this century have
striven to open the Dark Continent to civilized man, and have lost
their lives at an early age by violence or disease in consequence.
Thomson was, moreover, one of the very few amongst African explorers
who had never shed the blood of a native, nor even, we believe, during
his many journeys, fired a shot in self-defence. Thomson’s name has
been worthily associated with the present Gazelle, of which he was the
discoverer during his expedition through Masai-land to Lake Victoria in
1883 and 1884, and of which he first brought back specimens to Europe.
Thomson, as we are informed by Dr. Günther, who described this Gazelle
as _Gazella thomsoni_ in June 1884 from two frontlets presented by
Thomson to the British Museum, met with it on his way up the country
from the plains near Kilimanjaro to Lake Baringo, at various elevations
under 6000 feet. Dr. Günther, we may remark, in his description and
figure of these horns fell into a not unnatural error in treating the
more slender pair (fig. 74_a_, p. 172) as those of a female. But,
as we have already stated, the horns are always abnormally small in the
doe of this Gazelle, and sometimes, it is said, altogether wanting. The
slenderer pair of horns shown in Dr. Günther’s figures, which we have
been kindly allowed to reproduce in this work, are, like the stouter
pair, doubtless those of a male.
In his volume ‘Through Masai-land,’ Thomson does not appear to have
made any reference to this Gazelle, except by repeating the figures
of the horns (p. 536) already published by Dr. Günther. Thomson had
intended, we believe, to put his notes on the animals and plants
collected and observed during this expedition into an Appendix, which,
however, from pressure of other matters, was never written.
After Thomson himself, the next earliest information obtained
concerning this Gazelle appears to be that collected by Sir John
Willoughby’s hunting-party in 1886–87. In the Appendix to ‘East-Africa
and its Big Game,’ Mr. Hunter writes of it as follows:--
“This Gazelle, discovered by Mr. J. Thomson during his trip
through Masai-land in 1883, was found in large numbers in the
plains in the Masai country to the south-west of Kilimanjaro,
and we also came across it on the borders of the Masai country
at the south end of Kyulu mountain, but it is not met with on
the south side of the mountain between these two points. I have
seen these Gazelles mixing with _Gazella granti_, the female of
which, at long range, though larger, is easily mistaken for a
male _G. thomsoni_, both having the broad black stripe on the
side. They are generally seen in small herds of one male to
about ten females.”
In the first volume of ‘Big Game Shooting,’ of the Badminton Library,
Mr. F. J. Jackson, than whom no one can be better qualified to speak
of East-African Antelopes, gives us his experiences with the present
species in the following words:--
[Illustration: Fig. 75.
Front view of head of Thomson’s Gazelle, ♀.
(Neumann’s ‘Elephant-Hunting,’ p. 11.)]
“In habits _G. thomsoni_ is very like _G. granti_, but, as a
rule, is found in rather larger herds. Single bucks of this
species are, however, more often seen than single bucks of _G.
granti_. At Lake Naivasha, in July 1890, I saw a large herd of
some sixty head, composed entirely of does, and in the same
place, in September of the previous year, I saw a herd of some
thirty or forty beasts, every one of which was a buck; but I
do not think that this can be taken as evidence that the bucks
and does separate at certain seasons of the year, as on the
same days on which I saw these two herds I also saw others in
which the bucks and does were together. Thomson’s Gazelle is
a confiding little beast, and, except in places close to a
well-beaten caravan-route, where it has been constantly shot at,
can be easily approached within 120 yards with ordinary care
and perseverance, even in the most open and covertless spots.
These beasts appear to be confined almost entirely to the Masai
country, as I have not heard of their having been seen east of
the Sigarari plains to the south of Kilimanjaro, or south of
the Useri river and the headwaters of the Tsavo. I saw none at
Njemps near Lake Baringo, or in Turkwel and Ngaboto in the Suk
country, though _G. granti_ was plentiful in all these places.”
Writing subsequently in the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings’ on the
Antelopes of the Mau District of British East Africa, Mr. Jackson says
that this Gazelle does not, as he believes, extend beyond a few miles
north of Lake Nakuru. He adds that “the females are _horned_,
whatever may be said to the contrary.” With this view Mr. Arthur H.
Neumann, one of our most recent explorers in British East Africa,
quite agrees. In his lately published volume on ‘Elephant-Hunting’ in
that Protectorate, Mr. Neumann gives a figure of the head of a female
Thomson’s Gazelle, which, by his kindness and that of his publishers,
Messrs. Rowland Ward & Co., we are enabled to reproduce (fig. 75,
p. 174): this shows that the horns are present in that sex of _G.
thomsoni_, though in a much more dwarfed condition than in most of
its allies. Mr. Neumann also claims to have met with this Gazelle much
further north than its range is usually held to extend. This was in the
district of Kisima, south of the Lorogi Mountains and north of Lake
Naivasha.
Col. Lugard, who has had great experience in East-African
game-shooting, has stated[15] that he had never met with a horned
female of Thomson’s Gazelle. A letter lately received from our
much-valued correspondent, Mr. S. L. Hinde of the B.E.A. Medical
Service, in response to enquiries on this point, endeavours to explain
this diversity of opinion as follows:--
“With reference to the statement that the female Thomson’s
Gazelle has no horns, I can, perhaps, give some explanation. The
horns of the female of this species (see the skulls given by me
to the British Museum) are very frail, crooked, and generally
malformed. A good pair would be about five inches long; but
a very slight blow will break or knock off these horns. Four
or five females of this Gazelle that I have shot have knocked
off one or both horns when falling to the shot or in their
subsequent struggles.
“A doe of this species born in the fort at Kikuyu developed
horns; but in play with the rest of the herd of five, knocked
them off when they were not more than two inches long, and
when I last saw her there were two warty scars where the horns
had been. I should think that a similar accident is probably a
very common occurrence among the wild herds; so much so, that I
should not be surprised to see a herd of does ‘without horns.’
The yearling fawns running with their mothers would have horns
not more than half an inch long, and therefore invisible. If a
man, for any reason, were to shoot a doe out of such a herd he
would probably choose the largest animal. Afterwards, if the
question were raised, he would say that he saw a herd of does of
Thomson’s Gazelle absolutely hornless, and on shooting one found
there were only little marks on the head where the horns would
have been if the animal had had any.
“I have myself seen hundreds of these Gazelles in Ukambaui, some
without horns, some with one, and some with both horns. Of those
I have shot or seen shot myself, two were without horns, one
had one horn about three inches long, and four had both horns
averaging three and a half inches in length, while two had horns
about three-quarters of an inch long.”
Passing on to German East Africa we find, from Dr. Matschie’s volume
on the Mammals of that country, that Thomson’s Gazelle was met with by
Herr Oscar Neumann at various points on his journey north from Tanga
to the Victoria Lake. Mount Gurui, Lake Manyara, Ndalalani on the
Natron Lake, and the district between Guasso Nyiro and Ngare Dobasch
are specially mentioned, but north and west of the latter locality Herr
Neumann did not find it. It was also obtained near Mount Meru by Herr
v. Höhnel, and in Northern Irambi by Herr Stuhlmann.
We are not aware that examples of Thomson’s Gazelle have ever been
brought to Europe alive; but it would appear that young individuals
of this species are often captured and kept in confinement in British
East Africa. The late Capt. B. L. Sclater, R.E., who made the road from
Kibwesi to Port Victoria in 1895–97, in his letters written home refers
to several such cases, and Lieut. G. E. Smith, R.E., who was second in
command of Capt. Sclater’s party, kindly sends us the following notes
about them:--“Early in January 1896 Capt. Sclater obtained from the
Masai two young Thomson’s Gazelles, which were fed by hand and throve
well. They became quite tame and used to run about the camp and play
with a puppy. One of them subsequently ran away, but the other remained
with the camping-party for nearly a year.” At Kikuyu, Lieut. G. E.
Smith saw a pair of Thomson’s Gazelles then fully grown, having been in
possession of Mr. Hall, the Resident, for more than two years. The buck
was rather fierce and apt to attack natives with his horns. Major Eric
Smith, we are told, also generally had two or three of these Gazelles
scampering about his station at Naivasha very tame.
Our figure of the male of this Antelope (Plate LXVIII.) has been
prepared by Mr. Smit from a mounted specimen in the British Museum
presented by Mr. F. J. Jackson. There are also in the Museum a second
mounted specimen of a male presented by Mr. H. C. V. Hunter and the
skull of a male from Lake Naivasha presented by Col. Lugard. Besides
these the Museum contains two frontlets with horns, being the typical
specimens obtained by Thomson, and some skins and skulls of both sexes
from Machakos, presented by Mr. S. L. Hinde, as already mentioned in
his letter.
_May,_ 1898.
[Illustration:
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL LXIX
_Wolf del J Smit lith_ _Hanhart imp_
Grant’s Gazelle.
GAZELLA GRANTI.
_Published by R. H. Porter_]
100. GRANT’S GAZELLE.
GAZELLA GRANTI, BROOKE.
[PLATE LXIX.]
_New Antelope_, Ugogo, =Speke=, Journ. of Disc. p. 61 (1863).
_Antilope soemmerringii_?, =Speke=, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 3 (Ugogo).
_Gazella granti_, =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 601, pl. xli.;
=id.= P. Z. S. 1873, p. 550; =Scl.= P. Z. S. 1875, p. 527, pl.
lix. (Viv. Soc. Zool.); =Brooke=, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 723 (figs.,
head); =Scl.= List An. Z. S. (8) p. 142 (1883); =Pagenst.= JB.
Mus. Hamb. ii. p. 38 (1884); =Johnston=, Kilimanjaro Exp. p.
394 (1886); =Hunter=, in Willoughby, E. Africa, p. 289 (1889);
=Flow. & Lyd.= Mamm. p. 342, fig. 2 (head) (1891); =Ward=, Horn
Meas. (1) p. 104 (1892), (2) p. 148 (1896); =True=, P. U. S.
Nat. Mus. xv. p. 473 (1892); =Lyd.= Horns and Hoofs, p. 236
(1893); =Lugard=, E. Afr. i. p. 534 (1893); =Jackson=, in Badm.
Big Game Shooting, i. p. 298 (1894); =id.= P. Z. S. 1897, p.
453; =Matsch.= Säug. Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p. 131 (1895); =Donaldson
Smith=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 868; =A. Neumann=, Elephant-Hunting in
E. Africa, pp. 9, 10 (figs., horns, ♂ ♀) (1898).
VERNACULAR NAMES:--_Swara_ (_Jackson_) and _Njéra_ (_Stuhlmann_)
in Swahili.
Size large; height at withers about 34 inches. Fur close and short.
General colour fawn, rather variable in tone. Lateral bands, both
light and dark, usually very indistinct, often scarcely perceptible;
but, on the other hand, occasionally well developed, especially in
young animals. Central facial band richer fawn, approaching rufous;
a brownish spot present on the muzzle. Light facial streaks white,
sharply defined, running up over the eyes to the horns. Below these
the dark facial bands are almost imperceptible, scarcely or not at
all darker than the fawn-coloured cheeks and neck. Rump with the
white of the hams very broad, extended upwards, and uniting across
the base of the tail, so that the latter is quite separated from the
dark body-colour; laterally the white penetrates angularly into the
body-colour, overhanging the top of the pygal band, which is generally
well-defined. Outer sides of limbs fawn, without blacker markings.
Knee-brushes present, dark fawn. Tail above white for its basal half;
black and crested terminally.
Skull stout and heavy, nasal opening broad. In that of an adult male
the basal length is 9·75 inches, greatest breadth 4·4, muzzle to orbit
5·3.
Horns very long, longer and more powerful than in any other Gazelle;
evenly but slightly curved backwards below, and gently recurved
forwards terminally; sometimes but slightly divergent, but more often,
especially in specimens from Kilimanjaro, they spread widely above,
approaching each other again at their tips. Their section at base is
a long oval, very different from the nearly circular section found in
_G. soemmerringi_.
_Female._ Similar to the male, but the horns slender, nearly
circular in section, more strongly ridged than in the females of most
Gazelles; about two-thirds in length of those of the male.
_Hab._ Eastern Africa, from the district of Lake Rudolph,
southwards to Ugogo.
Grant’s Gazelle, which has been appropriately named after one of its
discoverers, is pre-eminent, even in this ornamental genus, for its
size and elegance, and is, in fact, generally allowed to be one of the
most beautiful species of the whole group of Antelopes. Speke and Grant
left Zanzibar on the well-known expedition during which the efflux of
the Nile from Lake Victoria was discovered, in September 1860. Starting
from Bagamoyo on the opposite coast, and passing through Usagara,
they arrived about two months later in Ugogo, then under the rule of
a native chief called Magomba. It was in December 1860 during their
stay at this place, where they were long detained by the drunken chief
and his wazir, that Speke first met with the present Antelope. In the
‘Journal’ of his travels Speke tells us that while kept waiting to
arrange the amount of his “hongo” he took the time out in the jungles
very profitably, “killing a fine buck and doe Antelope of an unknown
species.” “These animals,” he continues, “are of much about the same
size and shape as the common Indian Antelope, and like them roam about
in large herds, the most marked difference between the two being in
the shape of their horns, and in their colour, in which in both sexes
the Ugogo Antelopes rather resemble the _Gazella picticaudata_ of
Tibet, except that the former have dark markings on the face.”
[Illustration: Fig. 76.
Grant’s Gazelle, Ugogo.
(From Speke’s ‘Journal of Discovery,’ p. 61.)]